Apparatus for molding concrete burial-caskets.



L. V. RATHBUN. APPARATUS FOR MOLDING concur BURIAL GASKETS.

Patented Sept.6,1910.

APPLICATION FILED 001. 18, 1907. 969,299.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 1 ||||l Ll ||I llilllllllllllllvallll I| L. V. RATHBUN'. APPARATUS FOR MOLDING CONCRETE BURIAL GASKETS. APPLICATION FILED OOT.18, 1901.

969,299. Patented pt. 6,1910.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

rue mmms PETERS ca, WASHINLTION, 04 r:

L. v. RATHBUN. APPARATUS FOR MOLDING GONGRETE BURIAL GASKETS.

v APPLICATION IILED OOT.18, 1907. 969,299. I Patented Sept. 6, 1910.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

Tm: NORRIS PETERS :0. WASHINGTON a c.

L. V. RATHBUN. APPARATUS FOR MOLDING CONCRETE BUBIAL GASKETS.

Patented Sept. 6,1910.

APPLIOATION FILED 0070.}8, 1907. 969,299.

5 BHEETB-SHEET 4- 2 if. 5-

MM W4;

m5 NORRIS PETERS 0a,, wnsnmanw, D. e.

L. V. RATHBUN. APPARATUS FOR momma 901191191 9 BURIAL GASKETS.

Patented Sept. 6, 1910.

6 SHEETg-BHEET 6.

A A A T QQM W Nw N\ N\ APPIJOATION FILED 001. 18, 969,299.

AA v

IIIIIIII vIIIIIII II II vlll [:lnb

1H: NonRIs PETERS cc. wAsmmrroN, n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT. OFFICE.

LEWIS v. BATHBUN, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK.

APPARATUS FOR MOLDING CONCRETE BURIAL-CASKETS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LnwIs V. RATHBUN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Molding Concrete Burial-Caskets; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention has for its object to provide a simple and efficient apparatus for use in making concrete burial caskets, and to this end it consists of the novel devices and combinations of devices hereinafter described and defined in the claims.

Particularly, this invention was designed for use in making metal reinforced concrete burial caskets of the design illustrated in my U. S. Letters Patent No. 810,172, issued January 16, 1906, entitled Burial case.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate the invention, like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical section, taken longitudinally through a reinforced concrete burial casketof the type disclosed and claimed in my prior patent above identified, and which is adapted to be made by my improved apparatus. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the mold board upon which the body of the casket is made. Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section, taken through that part of the apparatus which is used in forming the body of the casket. Fig. at is a vertical, longitudinal section, taken on the line 00 ar of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is an enlarged section, with parts broken away, taken approximately on the line :0 m of Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a fragmentary section, taken on the line 00 w of Fig. 4. Fig. 7 is a transverse vertical section taken through that portion of the apparatus which is used to form the cover of the casket; and Fig. 8 is a fragmentary view in plan, showing a portion of the mold board upon which the said cover is formed.

I will first describe that part of the apparatus which is used in forming the body of the casket and which is illustrated in Figs. 2 'to 6 inclusive. The body 1 of the casket is formed, bottom side up, upon a metal mold Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 18, 1907.

Patented Sept. 6, 1910.

Serial No. 398,055.

rounded corners, is detachably supported by the mold board 2 in position to form a marginal groove in the upper edge of the completed casket body 1. As shown, this marginal core 4 is in the form of an inverted channel iron having flaring sides.

To form the inner surfaces of the sides of the casket body 1, obliquely set metal lining plates 5 are provided, and to these plates rectangular metal blocks or cores 6 having flaring sides are detachably secured, preferably by screws 7. Preferably, each side lining plate 5 is made up of three sections, as best shown in Fig. 4, and these sections, at their bases, are provided with foot flanges 8 that are detachably but rigidly secured to the mold board 2 by screws 9. To form the inner surfaces of the ends of the casket body 1, similar but shorter lining plates 10 are provided, and these are, as shown, each made up of three sections, (see Fig. 3) and each section is provided with a foot flange 11 that is detachably secured to the mold board 2 by screws 12. Rectangular metal blocks or cores 13 are detachably secured to the sections of the end lining plates 10, preferably by screws 14:, in the same manner as the cores 6 are secured to the section of the side lining plates 5.

The inner side of the bottom of the casket body 1 is formed by a so-called bottom lining plate 15 which, in the operative position of the apparatus, is detachably secured to the upper edges of the side and end plates 5 and 10 by screws 16 as shown in Figs. 3, 4t and 5. This bottom lining plate 15, as shown, is made up of nine sections, the intermediate sections being secured to the outer sections by screws 18 passed through depending flanges at the abutting edges of the said plate 15.

To the outer surface of the sections of the so-called bottom lining plate 15, rectangular metal blocks or cores 19 are detachably secured, preferably by screws 20.

By means of the lining plates 5, 10 and 15,

face of the casket body 1 is formed with panels or depressions located between horizontally extended reinforcing ribs 1 and vertically extended reinforcing ribs 1, as shown in Fig. l.

g The outer surfaces of the sides of the casket body 1 are formed by mold plates21, the lower portions of which are stepped or outwardly offset to form a reinforced upper rim portion at the upper edge portion of the completed casket body. At their extreme lower edges, said mold plates 21 are provided with foot flanges 22 that are detachably secured to the mold board 2, preferably by screws 23.

The mold plates 24 that form the outer surfaces of the ends of the casket body are like the side forming plates 21, but are shorter, and at their lower edges are provided with rigid foot flanges 25 that are preferably secured to the mold board 2 by screws 26.

The concrete body of the casket has embedded therein a metal reinforcement, preferably made up of crossed wires 27, and a woven wire fabric 28. The crossed wires 27 are alined with the reinforcing ribs 1 and 1 of the said casket body 1. To hold the wires 27 in position within the mold before the concrete is run into the mold, small posts or pegs 29 of any suitable material but preferably of wood, are suitably secured to adjacent inner members or sections of the interior lining plates, and this may be accomplished, as shown in Fig. 3, by means of screws 30. vVhen the screws 30 are removed,

after the casket body has been formed, the pegs 29 may be left embedded in the body of the casket, or, if properly tapered, they may be removed therefrom. The wires 27 that are to be extended vertically through the sides, and horizontally through the bottom of the casket body, are at their lower ends passed through the channel-shaped marginal core 4, and are bent or otherwise anchored thereto. When the wires 27 are thus secured they afford a good support for the reinforc ing wire fabric 28. After the casket body is formed and before the marginal core 4; is removed, the bent ends of the wires 27 must be cut or straightened so that the said core may be removed therefrom and from the body of the casket.

The apparatus above described, it will be noted, is in the form of a knock-down mold. In practice it is necessary to allow the cement to harden before the separable parts of the mold are removed therefrom. The outside mold plate may be very easily removed. To remove the inner mold plates or lining plates, the several sections thereof must be separated by removal of the screw which detachably but rigidly connects the same. Also, the screws which connect the rectangu lar cores 6, 13 and 19 to the respective sup porting lining plates, must also be removed so that the said cores may be left seated in the concrete body of the casket, for subsequent removal, after the sectional lining plates are removed from working position. It is here very important to note that the said lining plates or sections thereof, when disconnected, are capable of being removed from the interior of the inverted casket body by passing them downward tlnrough the large opening 3 in the mold board 2. This makes it possible to remove the sections of the mold from the formed casket body be fore the said casket body has hardened sufficiently to make handling thereof safe.

In Fig. 6 is shown one of the several anchor brackets that are embedded in the sides of the body of the casket and which serve as suitable devices to which to apply the handles (not shown) of the casket. These anchor brackets 30 are provided with radial arms and hubs, and, as shown, are detachably supported on the inner surfaces of the outside mold plates 21, by means of screws 31. The screws 31 must, of course, be removed before the plates 21 are removed from the formed casket body. The upper surface of the inverted casket body, to-wit, that surface which forms the bottom thereof, is adapted to be formed by troweling or by scraping with av straight edge.

In practice I have found that cement, or concrete that is rich in cement, has a very great tendency to adhere to iron or other metallic body when it is allowed to set in cont-act therewith. Hence, as one important feature of this invention, I cover the metal lic surfaces against which the concrete is formed with a flexible cloth or covering, such as closely woven cotton cloth. This cloth or flexible cover, which is designated by the numeral 32, is shown only in Fig. 5. When this flexible covering is used, the metallic mold plates and cores will not stick to the formed concrete casket body, and hence may be readily removed therefrom. The said covering, after the removal of the metallic parts of the mold may be quite easily stripped from the said concrete body by a peeling action very much like that employed to remove partially dried stamps from envelops.

By reference to Fig. 5, it will be noted that the cloth covering 32 is extended over the entire inner surface of the outer plate 21, entirely over the outer surface of the inner plate 5, and entirely over the surfaces of the cores 6. In fact, the said cores 6 clamp the cloth against the plate 5, and the coverings for said cores are formed from independent pieces of cloth. In this way, a single piece of cloth is applied to the inner plate 5, and is exposed between the cores for contact with the cement or concrete. In practice, it has been found practically impossible to use a single piece of cloth as a covering for the cores 6, and for the said plate 5.

The concrete cover 33 of the casket is made by an apparatus or knock-down mold constructed on the general plan of that above described, but preferably modified in design so as to form a cover that is arched in cross section. This cover forming mold, which is shown only in Figs. 7 and 8 may be briefly described as follows: A marginal mold board 34, preferably of metal and having a large central opening 35, is preferably supported by legs (not shown), and on the upper face thereof is detachably held an endless channel-shaped mold strip 36 that is of proper shape to form on the lower edge of the cover 33 an endless lock flange 37 that is adapted to enter and closely fit the groove or channel formed in the upper edge of the casket body 1 by the endless core 4. The inner surface of the cover 33 is formed by a multiplicity of lining plates 38, 39 and 40 that are detachably connected, preferably by screws 41. The lining plates 38 are provided with foot flanges that are detachably secured to the mold board 34, preferably by a screw 42. To the upper surfaces of the arched lining plates 39 panel-forming core blocks 43, thatare curved to correspond to the curve of the cover, are detachably secured by screws 44, and to the intermediate lining plates 40 rectangular core blocks 45 are detachably secured by screws 46.

The lower outer portion of the cover 33 is formed by mold plates 47 the upper portions of which are curved inward, and the lower portions of which are provided with foot flanges that are detachably secured to the mold board 34 by screws 48. That pob tion of the outer surface of the cover that is above the mold plate 47 is preferably formed by troweling. In this part of the apparatus, as well as in that part used to form the body of the casket, the detachably connected lining plates, when separated, are adapted to be removed individually through the large central opening in the mold board. Also, in this form of the apparatus, all those metallic surfaces that come into contact with the concrete are preferably covered with cloth or flexible covering, as and for the purposes described heretofore.

Molding apparatus or knock-down molds of the character above described may, of course, be used in molding burial caskets in various sizes and forms, from various different kinds of plastic material capable of hardening when set.

The central openings in the mold moards, as is evident, permit ready access to the screws that detachably connect the inner or lining members of the molding apparatus. The mold strips 4 and 33 may, if desired, be made in sections.

that I claim is:

1. In a casket molding apparatus, the combination with a mold board, inner side and end plates and a bottom-forming plate applied thereto, of outer side and end plates spaced apart from said inner side and end plates, spacing pegs or blocks applied to said inner plates, and an endless mold strip applied on said mold board and cooperating with said spacing pegs or blocks to hold a metallic reinforcement intermediate of said inner and outer plates and over said top plate, substantially as described.

2. In a casket molding apparatus, the combination with a mold board, inner side and end platesand a bottom forming plate applied thereto, of outer side and end plates spaced apart from said inner side and end plates, spacing pegs or blocks applied to the inner plates, a mold strip applied on said mold board, and wires applied to said mold strip and spacing pegs and thereby held within the space between the Walls of the mold and extending over the bottom-forming plate thereof, the said wires serving to support a woven wire reinforcement in position to be embedded within the concrete body of the casket, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I afliX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

LEWIS V. RATHBUN.

\Vitnesses:

H. D. KILGORE. F. D. MERCHANT. 

